Greetings From The Past
by Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine
Summary: Time doesn't necessarily happen in the right order. The Doctor knows that all too well. (Oneshot)


A sequence of rapid ' _clicks'_ echoed down the hallway, a hallway of metal and glass, dull green lighting shining from above. The noise got louder as then blonde woman ran, darting through intersections, opening doors with a buzz of her golden sonic device. The place was a maze.

Exactly how the Silurians had built it.

"Come on! Where are you?!" She called out, hoping that her Tardis could hear. She then slid to a stop, a long corridor coming to a dead end. Her breath was hard to draw at this point, as she began to rapidly fidget with her sonic, sending a number of different signal markers around the area.

They came storming in two by two, guns at the ready with the emitters glowing red. The Doctor turned to look at them and slowly raised her hands, sonic in the left.

"D'you know something, you lot? For the older residents of this planet, you make for terrible neighbours." She spoke. Every second was precious for the Tardis to answer her.

"This is our world!" The lead Silurian hissed in response. "And you are trespassing in our palace."

"You won't mind if I leave then?" She questioned, feeling the residual Artron energy form around her. "That'll be my ride, gotta get a shift on. G'bye!"

Red beams burst off towards her as the outline of the police box surrounded her, first shining white at the edges of the inset panels and window frames, then fading in with colour.

She looked around as the control room surrounded her… grey walls. Yellowing tinted roundels. An all glass rotor which at most would reach only a meter above the retro computer-like console. She knew this interior… and she knew the man stood by the console, short curly blonde hair and a bright patched coat being things she'd only had once before.

"Not many people can signal me like that, dear." The sixth incarnation spoke. The thirteenth looked at him for a moment before she spoke.

"Might want to… look outside?" She spoke, a little quietly. Still processing the reason why she'd somehow called the Tardis from over a thousand years into her own past.

Her past self stepped around to the panel closest to the door, tapping a green button at the very top to open the monitor shutters. "Oh dear me, were you angering the lizards with disk sanders?"

"Turns out they don't like people entering their palace." She replied… then recognised what they were about to do, a second before they did it. The Tardis jolted and shook as they barraged the exterior with a breaching canon, sparking red beam burning into the wood of the box.

"They can't get through, those doors-"

"Have a margin for error, they'll get through eventually!"

The 13th ran to the North-west panel, if the door was South, and started tapping on the navigation buttons rapidly.

"They're an isomorphic system, only recognises my fingerprint!" Her past self spoke, loudly above the noise. 13 looked at him, her hand rested on the engine slider. "I know." She responded, before she slotted it down, the rotor starting on its up-down movement as the Tardis began to take off.

Once in flight and stabilized, the two looked at each other, one of them bewildered.

"H...How, in 300 years no one has ever bypassed the isomorphics!" 6 exclaimed, 13 smiling.

"Like you said. Recognises your print, Doctor. No one bypassed it."

"Because…" He realised it. "...you are me." She nodded, his eyes widening. "Good lord, I'll have to ask Perry for advice."

"Oh it's a far way off yet, I wouldn't trouble yourself so soon. About as many ahead as there are behind you right now."

"You mean… are you the last?"

"Yeah… well, no. It's complicated, spoilers… haven't said that in a bit." She thought for a moment, glancing as the door to the back of the console room opened, the engines beginning to cycle in landing. "Anyway, must dash, told Ryan, Yaz and Graham I was going to get coffee."

"I'll see you soon then, my friend." 6 replied as the Tardis let out a thump, the landing properly secured. 13 nodded and turned to the doors… then she remembered that you had to slot the red lever on the south-west panel to open them.

"Who was that, Doctor?" Perry asked as the doors closed.

"I… I'm not entirely sure I can describe her, Perry. Anyway…" The Doctor slotted the switch to close the interior doors again, then the engine throttle. "How about I take you sunbathing on Tyceros IV? It's an all tropical planet with the most vivid tasting fruit drinks…"

13 stepped back into her own Tardis, the gentle humming engine and glowing crystal structures welcoming her back in. She headed to the console, tapping her foot down on the pedal switch and picking up the custard cream biscuit that came out of the panel, crunching down on it as she reached up slotted the throttle down.

"Right then… coffee for my fam." She thought out loud, popping the rest of the custard cream in her mouth before she headed around the console, navigating her way to a nice little tea room she'd come to enjoy in Suffolk, 1995...

 _ **I've been on a massive writer's block for the last few months, still not entirely sure when or if it will clear. But I managed to push this one out, just in time for Christmas.**_

 _ **Have a merry one, all!**_


End file.
